


Practise Makes Perfect

by Ruenis



Series: Aldnoah.Zero Domestic One-shots [9]
Category: Aldnoah.Zero (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, One Shot Collection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-18
Updated: 2016-05-18
Packaged: 2018-06-09 04:18:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6889678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ruenis/pseuds/Ruenis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are many things that Inaho would like to try. Two such things come unexpectedly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Practise Makes Perfect

“My nails?” Slaine asks, raising an eyebrow. He holds a hand up and gazes at his own fingers, noting that he has not cut his nails in a few weeks. They are not long _long_ , but they are a few centimetres longer than normal..

Is that what Inaho is getting at?

“Do you want me to cut them?” he questions. _It might hurt when we hold hands.._

“No,” Inaho says quickly, shaking his head. He gently takes Slaine's hand and looks over his nails, noting that they are rather well taken care of, in spite of Slaine attending to plants most of the day. “Can I paint them?” he asks, looking up to gaze at his boyfriend.

The question causes Slaine to blink in surprise.

“Erm..” He gazes back at the brunet, having not expected that sort of thing to come out of Inaho's mouth. “You.. want to.. to do my nails?” he asks, earning a nod.

Inaho's expression is hard to read again, but he looks somewhat curious.

The blond thinks about it for a second, not sure what the drawbacks to that may be. He would simply have (probably) crudely painted nails. “.. okay,” he says as he nods, earning a slightly surprised look.

“You're going to let me?” Inaho asks, already pulling several small bottles of polish out of his pocket. He holds them up for Slaine to see – he has a bright blue bottle, a black one with shiny glints in it, and a light grey one.

“I don't..” Slaine watches the brunet, raising his eyebrow again, “.. see.. why not..” He frowns somewhat at the action, confused, “Were you carrying those around all day?”

Inaho only smiles somewhat, not responding. He twirls the top off of the blue one.

Sighing, the blond lets his hand go limp in Inaho's grasp, frown not wavering as he continues to gaze at Inaho. “You are _incredible_ ,” he mumbles, causing Inaho's smile to widen.

“Thank you,” Inaho murmurs.

“I was being sarcastic.”

Inaho beams.

 

 

 

“Do you like them?” Inaho asks, watching as Slaine looks over his nails.

“Mm.. You did rather well,” Slaine murmurs, smiling at the other, “The lines are a bit shaky, and you should use something other than the nail brush for lines like that.. But I like it.” He gazes at each nail individually, noting that Inaho did a slightly better job with more area.

Inaho smiles again at the blond, happy that Slaine is content with the polish. He gently rests himself against Slaine, pressing his cheek to Slaine's shoulder.

Slaine smiles as well, and blows softly on the polish, trying to dry it a bit quicker. “Why did..” He pauses, looking at his thumbnail, “.. you want to paint them, anyway?”

“Yuki-nee wants me to do hers for a party she's going to..” Inaho says, looking up a bit, “and I thought it would suit you, because you're pre– ..”

“Don't say I'm pretty,” Slaine murmurs, frowning somewhat.

“.. because you're so attractive,” Inaho amends.

Although Slaine will not let him say it, he thinks the blond is _very_ pretty. Beautiful. And he will continue to think so, whether Slaine realises it or not.

Slaine hums softly at that, not verbally responding. He gazes at his nails again, smiling slightly.

Inaho had painted small, blue triangles on top of a grey and black background. Plain, but.. it _had_ taken the brunet an hour.

“Thank you,” Slaine murmurs, “I like them.”

* * *

 

Inaho gently combs his fingers through Slaine's hair, listening to the blond hum softly. “Your hair is really soft..” he mumbles, causing Slaine to pull at his own hair.

“You think so? I've been using that shampoo you got me..”

“Do you like it?” Inaho murmurs, leaning down and pressing his lips to Slaine's head, “I bought one that smelled like peppermint.”

“I like this one better than that orange scented one you bought last month,” Slaine answers, teasing the brunet, “Do _you_ like it? My hair?”

“I like everything about you,” Inaho answers, not missing a beat. He hears Slaine's breath hitch, and chuckles softly at the reaction. He changes the subject before Slaine can feel further embarrassment: “Can I do your hair?”

“Are you..” Slaine blinks, looking upward at the brunet, “Are you going to do Yuki's hair, too?”

“No. I just want to do yours.”

The blond's face flushes somewhat, and he returns to facing forward, “I.. wouldn't be against it.”

 

 

 

“You're better at this than nail styling,” Slaine observes quietly, looking at his hair in a small hand mirror Inaho had provided him with. He gently pulls at a braid the brunet had made earlier, face hard to read.

“Do you like it?”

Slaine pauses. “Honestly?”

Inaho nods, barely visible in the mirror.

“I.. don't. I think I'd prefer a ponytail, or something similar.. I'm not a fan of braids and such. Which is why I keep my hair short,” Slaine answers, setting the mirror down as he turns to face the brunet, “That being said, you _did_ do a good job. Just not in my taste.” He smiles a bit, and starts to undo the braids one by one, glad that Inaho did not have any hair ties to properly keep them in place.

Inaho nods slightly, making a mental note to do Slaine's hair a different way next time.

“Do you..” Slaine drops his gaze suddenly, lightly biting his bottom lip. “Would you prefer it if I had longer hair?”

Inaho shakes his head immediately. He reaches forward, fingers gently pulling at platinum blond. “I.. wouldn't prefer that,” he says after a second, composing himself, “I prefer you happy. You can do whatever you want with your hair.”

The comment earns the faintest tug on Slaine's lips. “I could dye my hair the darkest black and you'd still like it?”

The brunet frowns; despite the comment he made seconds ago, he finds himself dissatisfied with the notion. “I.. like your blond hair,” he says, “I think it's a nice shade.”

It is Slaine's turn to laugh at his boyfriend's reaction. “Relax,” he says softly, leaning somewhat into Inaho's touch, “I'm not going to dye my hair.”

* * *

 

“I see Inaho's hard work paid off,” Slaine tells an excited Yuki, who is head-over-heels for her nails, “He seemed particularly determined to do a good job on your nails. He did mine five times.” Raising his head to meet Yuki's brown eyes, he smiles slightly at the brunette, still unsure of how to properly act around her. “May I ask why?”

She treats him like family, but.. he does not want to overstep his bounds. Thus, the formalities.

“The party I'm going to, it's a formal business party. Everyone in the department is attending,” Yuki hums, pulling one hand away to admire Inaho's hard work a bit closer, “I'm supposed to get a promotion.”

_Oh._

“Congratulations,” Slaine says, smile turning a bit more genuine, relaxed, “I hope you get it.”

“I'm sure I will! Nao did such a good job making sure I looked my best!” Yuki coos, grinning back at the blond, “I'll try to bring leftovers home for you two. So tell him not to cook, okay?”

Slaine nods, waving her goodbye as she exits the house.

Inaho had already bid her goodnight about fifteen minutes ago, and had then gone to take a bath.

“I'm off!”

“See you later,” Slaine calls back.

* * *

 

“Oh, you're done?”

“Mm,” Inaho murmurs, settling down beside the blond and pressing his face to Slaine's shoulder.

Slaine raises his arm slightly, resting it on top of Inaho's head. “I think.. you did a good job with Yuki's nails. Your practise went well,” he says softly, listening to Inaho mumble something unintelligible in response. He gently moves Inaho's hair around, adding, “By the way, Yuki said not to cook anything. She's going to try and bring us leftovers.”

The brunet nods at that.

...

...

“Why did you suddenly want to give things like that a try?” Slaine asks, curiosity evident in his tone.

Inaho lifts his head just enough to answer properly: “I want to be able to do things like that for you.”


End file.
